Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.
Document No . 2 is a memoradum copy of a letter without the name of the person to which it is addressed , or signature , dated August 6 , 1755 . It begins , " Worthy and Dear Bro . " It must , therefore , have been sent to a familar friend . It
urges that friend to use his influence to get the appointment of the Grand Mastership for America for Bro . Jeremy Gridley . The letter says : " I received my Deputation from the Right Hon . Lord Montague in April , 1733 ; " and goes on to say :
" We have made application to the Grand Master of England for the said Bro . Gridley , which application and three guineas were sent to Captain John Phillips last December to our Rev . Bro . Entick , minister at Stepney , desiring him to
forward the affair , but are surprised that we have not received the deputation , nor a line from Bro . Entick , whose receipt we have for the three guineas paid to him by the said Captain John Phillips . " Toward the close of the letter
he says : | I have some remote thought of once more seeing London , with all my brethren in the G . L ., after an absence of twenty-two years . "
Now there can be no doubt that this is a copy of a letter written by Price . Here we have Montague ; we learn also that Entick the Ifontacator was a Eev ., and that Price in 1755 was absent from England twenty-two year ; so ,
consequently , he must have brought the charter with him in 1733 , whereas in Moore ' s life of Price , he says that P . came over about the year 1723 . If this be true , Price must have recrossed the Atlantic after his first arrival .
A few days after receiving those documents we called on Bro . Lewis to return them , when we pointed out the above discrepancies , but regre tted that we had no means at our command to enable
us to identify the handwriting , for we were satisfied , on comparing the letter with Price ' s signature , that Price did not write it . Thereupon , Bro . Lewis offered us a small box , full of old papers , and said : " There , take this with you ,
examine them at your leisure , and see what you can make out of them "—an office we cheerfully accepted . Document No . 3 comprises six folio leaves , containing a complete list of the members of the first
lodge , from 1733 to the end of 1751 , with the dates of each , who joined , or was initiated in the said lodge , and all designated by certain marks . We saw at a glance that the letter of 1755 and this list were the same handwriting , but could find no
Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.
clue to the name of the penman . So we took some of those documents and called upon Bro . W . S . Gardner , our Grand Master . Our acquaintance with Bro . G . is of very recent date , and we hope no one will interpret our opinion of him as
designed te flatter or compliment ; we are not in . the habit of complimenting Grand Masters , but where we find one who deserves praise , we shall always be pleased to give him his due . Shortly , then , Bro , Gardner is without exception ,
Masonically , the best informed Grand Master that Massachusetts has had for the last twenty-seven years , and to all that he combines a generous candour and a love of truth , truly marvellous for an American Grand Master in these days . On
exhibiting the documents to Bro . Gardner , he was naturally surprised to see them . We , however , gave him an account whence they came , & c . ; indeed , we remember having seen some of those
very old papers twenty years ago , at the house of their former owner . So , after we had our say , and made our comments , vve expressed a wish to compare those documents with the original records of the GL- of 1733 , as we thought we could thus
make them " a tale unfold . " To this proposition Bro . Gardner consented , ancl the book was forthwith removed from some place where it was kept to the Masonic Temple . We spent about an hour with it , and reported next day to the Grand Master our
opinion , viz . : that Massachusetts had no original records of 1733 . Subsequently , we spent another hour with the records , aud we , were not only confirmed in our belief that the book from 1733 to about 1752 is only a transcript , but drew other
inferences of a startling nature . At present , however , we shall merely explain our reason for pronouncing the record a transcript :
First , on comparing the list , or document No . 3 , with the record , we could not be mistaken in the identity of tbe penmanship . We carefully compared words , letters , and figures : we laid side by side the name of Henry Price , of Gridley , the
word Worship' ! , and the 174-8 , 1733 , 1751 , & c , and the one appeared to be the stereotype of the other . We now recalled to mind that the list ancl record both begin in 1733 and end in 1751 ; hence , we suspected that they were both clone at the
same time . The above period is compressed into twenty-three pages , and during the first eighteen years we could find no secretary ' s name . At last , in 1750 or ' 51 . we found Charles Pelham G . S .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.
Document No . 2 is a memoradum copy of a letter without the name of the person to which it is addressed , or signature , dated August 6 , 1755 . It begins , " Worthy and Dear Bro . " It must , therefore , have been sent to a familar friend . It
urges that friend to use his influence to get the appointment of the Grand Mastership for America for Bro . Jeremy Gridley . The letter says : " I received my Deputation from the Right Hon . Lord Montague in April , 1733 ; " and goes on to say :
" We have made application to the Grand Master of England for the said Bro . Gridley , which application and three guineas were sent to Captain John Phillips last December to our Rev . Bro . Entick , minister at Stepney , desiring him to
forward the affair , but are surprised that we have not received the deputation , nor a line from Bro . Entick , whose receipt we have for the three guineas paid to him by the said Captain John Phillips . " Toward the close of the letter
he says : | I have some remote thought of once more seeing London , with all my brethren in the G . L ., after an absence of twenty-two years . "
Now there can be no doubt that this is a copy of a letter written by Price . Here we have Montague ; we learn also that Entick the Ifontacator was a Eev ., and that Price in 1755 was absent from England twenty-two year ; so ,
consequently , he must have brought the charter with him in 1733 , whereas in Moore ' s life of Price , he says that P . came over about the year 1723 . If this be true , Price must have recrossed the Atlantic after his first arrival .
A few days after receiving those documents we called on Bro . Lewis to return them , when we pointed out the above discrepancies , but regre tted that we had no means at our command to enable
us to identify the handwriting , for we were satisfied , on comparing the letter with Price ' s signature , that Price did not write it . Thereupon , Bro . Lewis offered us a small box , full of old papers , and said : " There , take this with you ,
examine them at your leisure , and see what you can make out of them "—an office we cheerfully accepted . Document No . 3 comprises six folio leaves , containing a complete list of the members of the first
lodge , from 1733 to the end of 1751 , with the dates of each , who joined , or was initiated in the said lodge , and all designated by certain marks . We saw at a glance that the letter of 1755 and this list were the same handwriting , but could find no
Old Documents Recently Dis Covered Compared With The Massachusets Records Of 1733.
clue to the name of the penman . So we took some of those documents and called upon Bro . W . S . Gardner , our Grand Master . Our acquaintance with Bro . G . is of very recent date , and we hope no one will interpret our opinion of him as
designed te flatter or compliment ; we are not in . the habit of complimenting Grand Masters , but where we find one who deserves praise , we shall always be pleased to give him his due . Shortly , then , Bro , Gardner is without exception ,
Masonically , the best informed Grand Master that Massachusetts has had for the last twenty-seven years , and to all that he combines a generous candour and a love of truth , truly marvellous for an American Grand Master in these days . On
exhibiting the documents to Bro . Gardner , he was naturally surprised to see them . We , however , gave him an account whence they came , & c . ; indeed , we remember having seen some of those
very old papers twenty years ago , at the house of their former owner . So , after we had our say , and made our comments , vve expressed a wish to compare those documents with the original records of the GL- of 1733 , as we thought we could thus
make them " a tale unfold . " To this proposition Bro . Gardner consented , ancl the book was forthwith removed from some place where it was kept to the Masonic Temple . We spent about an hour with it , and reported next day to the Grand Master our
opinion , viz . : that Massachusetts had no original records of 1733 . Subsequently , we spent another hour with the records , aud we , were not only confirmed in our belief that the book from 1733 to about 1752 is only a transcript , but drew other
inferences of a startling nature . At present , however , we shall merely explain our reason for pronouncing the record a transcript :
First , on comparing the list , or document No . 3 , with the record , we could not be mistaken in the identity of tbe penmanship . We carefully compared words , letters , and figures : we laid side by side the name of Henry Price , of Gridley , the
word Worship' ! , and the 174-8 , 1733 , 1751 , & c , and the one appeared to be the stereotype of the other . We now recalled to mind that the list ancl record both begin in 1733 and end in 1751 ; hence , we suspected that they were both clone at the
same time . The above period is compressed into twenty-three pages , and during the first eighteen years we could find no secretary ' s name . At last , in 1750 or ' 51 . we found Charles Pelham G . S .